Daystar Senior Living Blog

Heather McCallum

Recent Posts

I don't know of anything that can bring a room of people together faster than a sing-along. In the past couple weeks here at Daystar Retirement Village we've had sing-alongs of favorite hymns, favorite folk songs and popular classics. It seems like we have a sing-along just about once a week, and sometimes two or three.

Many of us grew up with the idea that exercise was work, and not very fun work, at that. Remember gym class when everyone had to line up and do jumping jacks and other calisthenics that seemed both pointless and humiliating? At some point in the semester someone was going to write down how many sit-ups you did, how fast you ran and whether you managed to find the strength for that one measly pull up.

Unfortunately, losing friends is a part of growing older. Some friends will move away for personal or professional reasons, other friends may move into another phase of life with different interests, and still others will pass away.

Did you know that assisted living facilities have only been around for about 30 years? The biggest explosion in growth was between 1995 and 2000. According to the National Caregivers Library, there are now about 1.2 million residents living in nearly 30,000 assisted living facilities across the country.

One of the joys of living in West Seattle is easy access to the West Seattle Farmer’s Market Started in 1999, this year-round market is open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sundays and features more than 35 Washington State farmers and small food processors selling their own fresh-picked seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Building and maintaining endurance, strength, flexibility and balance is important for everyone, but they are particularly important for seniors who want to maintain their mobility. In 2012, the National Institutes of Health launched a program called Go4Life to help seniors focus on and track their progress in exactly those areas.